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Abbey: "If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time." I believe this quote says it all. Pat Lencioni goes on to say that when he reads this quote to leaders, they all seem to "nod their heads in a desperate way, as if suggesting it is impossible to make that happen." This was eye opening for me. Not only do we work tirelessly in Education to get everyone rowing in the same direction, this is the case in a variety of industries. As I read through Part One, I could relate to being the "new person." When I first came to SCE, I spent the entire first week introducing myself to people, getting to know the building, memorizing names, and observing in classrooms. I am sure to some it did seem like I was "doing nothing," but I can promise you that I was pushing my brain to observe every detail and take in as much as possible. I remember being absolutely mentally and emotionally exhausted just from trying to learn a new place, new people, new students, new responsibilities, new processes, etc. 

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Abbey: "If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time." I believe this quote says it all. Pat Lencioni goes on to say that when he reads this quote to leaders, they all seem to "nod their heads in a desperate way, as if suggesting it is impossible to make that happen." This was eye opening for me. Not only do we work tirelessly in Education to get everyone rowing in the same direction, this is the case in a variety of industries. As I read through Part One, I could relate to being the "new person." When I first came to SCE, I spent the entire first week introducing myself to people, getting to know the building, memorizing names, and observing in classrooms. I am sure to some it did seem like I was "doing nothing," but I can promise you that I was pushing my brain to observe every detail and take in as much as possible. I remember being absolutely mentally and emotionally exhausted just from trying to learn a new place, new people, new students, new responsibilities, new processes, etc. 

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I'm a rule follower, for the most part, so I decided this year I was going to make sure to complete the task of  writing some comments for our book.
As I went back through this first section, I realized that I marked 'dysfunctional' several times.  I guess over the course of my career,  I've experienced being on teams that would be considered dysfunctional, even though I had never consciously labeled it quite that way.  A 'team' working well and "all rowing in the same direction" will definitely achieve more than an individual, but goodness, there's a lot of personality traits to try to work through before that can be accomplished.
I was somewhat amused with the descriptions of each member of "The Staff".  Did I find myself try to substitute some real names with each character that was described?  I believe I did. :-)   I'm assuming we'll learn how each of these characters' roles plays into effective team building.
Lastly, I confess that I jumped to the back of the book to read the description for each of the 5 dysfunctions of a team.  I can't disagree with any of it, but I'm also optimistic enough to think if I'm going to spend my time on a team, I'm willing to work to overcome my own inefficiencies to help build an effective team that "can achieve more than individuals could ever imagine doing alone."

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I will admit that it took me a while to get started on this book, all because I didn't like the cover. :) I am strange like that. Once I got started with the reading, I realized it was an interesting read. The description of the staff members was very entertaining to read through. I could definitely see personal names being added in there to fit the members of the various teams I have been on in the past, or teams that my peers have been involved in. I also recognized myself in Carlos, the Customer Support guy. :) I don't talk a lot, and I stay to myself more than most. It doesn't mean I'm not listening, not interested, or not paying attention, I'm just absorbing it all in while I think on it. I'm not one who shares a lot of personal info, or even celebrations for that matter. Public attention makes me very uncomfortable. I know other staff personalities can be more vocal and I'm thankful for them. If we were all a Carlos, how quiet would our meetings be??? :) I'm interested in seeing what Carlos brings to the team.

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I have enjoyed this book. I like how she spelled out all the talent and resources but the company was not achieving due to them not trusting and only doing the job they were hired to do in isolation. With our school being so big it is difficult to have time just to talk to your own grade level, let alone the other grades. Sometimes I feel we are working in isolation too. Time is scarce. If you come to school on Saturday you will find many working making plans and materials for the next week. I do need to spend more time just talking to others and listening. We are good at sharing data now. We are not good at sharing ideas. I don't feel that is because we don't want to but we don't have time. I am sure third grade could give us suggestions of things to do that would be helpful.

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It is fun to see the different breakdowns of each character, and I am sure all of us started to see ourselves and our colleagues in the descriptions.
I think I can see a bit of myself in one of the characters, but I show signs of others as well. I am interested in how Kathryn is going to pull this together, as one would assume that we are going to witness a change in the company culture.  I believe that the first thing she will do is set a direction and pull her cabinet together.

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Jaime - Don't you know you can't judge a book by it's cover?

Thanks for posting Chris!  You are a true rower!

Why is it so hard to get everyone rowing in the same direction?  It that is the secret, according to the text, why aren't we doing that?  What is holding us back, what is the disconnect?

Sometimes this happens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f5MvVx8RM8

I also began to place names with the staff. My hope is that Kathryn will turn things around... but does she have the capacity to do so? Is Decision Tech doomed? How can it possible work when it seems like everyone is rowing in a different direction?

Thanks for posting everyone!  Time to Light a Fire!

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Like Jaime stated, I find similarities between Carlos and myself. I am basing this off of Kathryn's observation, so it will be interesting to read more about his role.

Being new to leadership has pushed me to go outside of my comfort zone as I typically keep to myself. I believe I am an independent worker and struggle to share many ideas and thoughts I may have. With that said, I am one piece of the puzzle. Leading a workplace is tedious because the leaders have various forms of work ethics, beliefs and personalities to balance in order to achieve efficiency and effectiveness.

Based on Kathryn's past I feel that she has a strong idea on how to build leadership within DecisionTech even though her plan will more than likely be looked down upon for selfish reasons.

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Jon- I feel that we all can't row together because we all can't/won't set aside differences. Those differences include beliefs, personal knowledge and the fact that we don't want to change what works. In college if I heard the word "flexible" once I heard a million times. I find that we can be flexible in our classrooms, but when it comes to collaborating and changing for the good of our students as a whole, it all of a sudden becomes "too much." That is something I struggle with because children, society and education will always be changing. What has worked for the past 10 years may not work now or ever again. Be flexible always in every aspect and remember what our job is about---students.

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I enjoyed that the format of this book and I am glad it is more like a story. It made me interested to see what will happen to this group. I like how the author related different personality types and work styles by using characters instead of just relaying information about each one.
I can't wait to see what Kathryn's leadership style will be like, but I think the fact that she spent time observing other, and knowing that she has a gift for building teams, will help in the long run.

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At the beginning of part 2, Kathryn is challenged to explain to the Executive Director that in order for her to do her job (the one he hired her to do), he has to allow her to challenge the employees. She uses two words that I find myself using every single day - purposeful and intentional. When building trust, whether new to an organization or rebuilding from an issue that occurred, the leadership has to be trusted to be trusted to be intentional and purposeful in all endeavors. This means the leadership must hold themselves accountable as well. This resonated with me, because as a leader, it can be very difficult when you feel intentional and purposeful in all that you do - but you still hit walls with people that catch you off guard. It was clear that while Kathryn attempted to establish her purpose and goal, she was challenged in every way - by every person - and their own view or agenda of the current company's status.

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Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. The first dysfunction is a failure on the part of team members to understand and open up to one another. Also it was stated that we have to be willing to debate issues (have conflict) without becoming defensive. I think this is hard to do until you have that trust and know someone loves you and values your ideas but just disagrees with what you feel is the best way to accomplish that goal. We all have different strong points and we need to be willing to listen to another's views without thinking they are attacking us personally. This I think is important for everyone to understand that their opinion is valued but be open to change if someone can show you a better idea as was illustrated in this part of the book.

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One of the quotes that I could relate to during this section of the book was when Kathryn says, "....I see a trust problem here in the lack of debate that exists during staff meetings and other interactions among this team."  I sometimes have different ideas or viewpoints on certain topics or how I think things should be done in certain areas, but I find myself only feeling comfortable enough to discuss my ideas and points of view with certain people.  I am not one who likes to debate, and I also know who not to share with because in the end it won't matter.   (And.... I don't want to end up being bashed on social media! LOL!!!)  I don't think that our building has a trust issue over all,  it may just be my own quirk. :)

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I read this section a while back, but then didn't reflect until the due date. (That's how I basically do everything in life - due dates and not before ) So I went back in the chapters to see what I underlined.  Here are some of the lines that struck me for one reason or another, thinking about them  in a corporate wide sense, school wide, or even in my own classroom....
1 -   Moments of truth are best handled face to face
2-  We need to get our act together as a team, or we're not going to be selling anything
3 - I was hired to make this organization work, and right now it doesn't. From a team standpoint, we are completely broken....won't have a meaningful impact until we straighten out the leadership problems around here
4 - ...not just randomly setting fires to get my kicks....everything is purposeful and intentional
5 - Are you prepared for the consequences of letting me do this right?
6 - How much of this team are you going to have to rebreak?
7-...some of us won't find the new company to be the kind of place we want to be....not a threat, just a realistic possibility
8 - Trust is the foundation of real teamwork....admit mistakes, weaknesses, and concerns without fear of reprisal
9 -Why is there so little passionate debate among this group
10 - I want you to do 2 things: be present and participate
11-Fear of vulnerability
12 - The key is to make the collective ego greater than the individual ones
13 - ...realized that this was precisely what she needed in order to provoke real change in the group:
honest resistance.
14 - When people don't unload their opinions and feel lilke they've been listened to, they won't really get on board.
15 - ...consensus becomes an attempt to please everyone
16 - ...most reasonable people don't have to get their way in a discussion.  They just need to be hear and to know that their input was considered and responded to.
17 - People aren't going to hold each other accountable if they haven't clearly bought in to the same plan.
18

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I have seen the triangle many times.  In fact, I mentioned this last year, towards the middle, as we began the change in leadership from central.  Trust is key.  In a building as large as ours, it is important to have trust at all levels.  Everyone's opinions are important, and all need to know that they can share and be heard.
I can envision certain people in our building reacting similarly to the activities that take place during the offsite. Our folks would struggle through the vulnerability exercise, which makes me question how strong the level of trust is. I believe that throughout each grade level, the activity could be done, but as a building, many would struggle to share. Perhaps this is due to the size of the building, but I feel like the level of trust needs to extend throughout the building.

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So many things spoke to me in this section. If we sat through this training, our meetings would be very similar, as our reactions to the discussions.
I really like this quote: "When I talk about focusing on results instead of individual recognition, I'm talking about everyone adopting a set of common goals and measurements, and then actually using them to make collective decisions on a daily basis." Cue the trumpets....PLC. We have come a lot way in the last couple of years and we should be proud of this. I don't think it was every about individual recognition, but before standards based report cards, our goals were not specific enough.

For me, the lack of passionate debates also  stuck out to me. I despise conflict. It makes me sick to my stomach if something comes up that I need to address because I am so uncomfortable at the thought of starting or trying to resolve conflict. It has a lot to do with how I was raised, but I won't go into that. I will often hold back my opinions and honest concerns for that reason. It would be very difficult for me to call out a colleague, even if helped to make a change, or make things better. I definitely see the value in constructive conflict and how feeling like this could hurt a team, but is a hard thing for me to change.

"People aren't going to hold each other accountable if they haven't clearly bought into the same plan." This has been very true for my team this year. We have struggled a lot with all of the changes. We don't completely agree with them, and we are still working on trying to buy into them. We have improved in the process of the changes, but are nowhere near the stage of accountability.

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I appreciated the graphics Kathrine used.  I began to wonder if our leadership team would benefit from this activity.  The question that came to mind was what are our weaknesses and strengths and can we work collectively to achieve our goals.  When we tie this all back together, I think we need a goal.  What is the goal we are after?  Is my goal the same as each of yours? We may say that it is for all kids to learn.  However, I believe there are some that do not, or have not bought into that idea.  The question remains, is that my goal, your goal, or our goal?

The other part that I thought was interesting was the description of a team.  Is the trust in place to operate as a team?  Does Ego get in the way of this?  Am I more focused on, “Look what I did” as compared to focusing on the overall results.  I love Rich DuFour’s description of a team.  “It is a group working interdependently to achieve a goal.”  I love it.  What is the goal?

I believe a lot of the stuff we do is viewed as in addition to. . .  I think we need to work toward the idea that what we do is to make the work easier and more effective and tie it all to our goal.  Why are we doing what we are doing?  Why are we doing this book study?  Why do we meet as a leadership team?  Why in the world would we welcome conflict into our meetings?

I am excited to see where this goes!  We certainly have dynamic characters.  Was anyone else thinking about how a character impacts a plot as they were reading?

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I could definitely relate to the heated discussion that happened in the chapter "Fireworks." As a leader, it is really hard to navigate when to insert yourself, and/or when to let a conversation play out. I find myself very often wanting to insert myself to try to fix the problem (or give my opinion), but often times if/when I allow a conversation to play out, it turns out better in the end. A Principal I formerly worked with once said "sometimes the learning is in the angst." Just like we provide wait time for our students in the classroom, sometimes we have to just sit silently and allow the silence to create angst. It is in the angst that the true learning happens. I am often very quick to want to jump in and fix the situation for teachers, instead of just allowing them to problem solve themselves. I see this in classrooms every day. It is much easier to give students the answer vs. allowing them to be uncomfortable but ultimately figuring it out in the end. Sometimes this angst has caused more problems, but sometimes the angst has given other people a chance to step up and be the problem solver (which is much more powerful than if I solve the problem).

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The takeaway for me was the controversy surrounding Mikey.  It was interesting to me because she was productive.  Her work seemed to be ahead of schedule.  She had experience.  She did not work as part of the team.   The example about Fred was important too.  It is easy to see how we could look past behaviors if production is there.  The trouble is the impact that this has on a team.  Having hard conversations for the sake of the team mission is necessary.  I appreciate how Kathryn has lead the team so far.  I also like how she explained that she dealt with Mikey to ensure that no one else leaves.

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The Fireworks chapter reminded me of how things are here, in our building. When it comes down to it and things get difficult (whether that be having tons of people out sick, being short staffed in the cafeteria, etc..... ) our staff is never short of volunteers to step in and get us through the day the best we can. When Carlos volunteered to take over sales after JR quit, and Mikey mentioned that Nick would be good at it since he had a history in sales, everyone then appeared to be working together as a team. Regardless of how awkward things may get at times between members of our staff, we do work well together when we encounter a problem.

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My biggest takeaway from this section was similar to Jon's regarding the controversy around Mikey. While she was completing her job tasks, she was not an appropriate member of the team. She was not understanding that for the team and company to be successful as a whole, each team member needed to be willing to improve. Mikey was selfish in her interactions, comments and behavior. Our school works by having individual grade level teams, and now leadership. The school cannot function to its best ability if it is not being "ran" by an effective team. I see the relationship between what Kathyrn is doing and what our leadership team is doing . The big picture is getting clearer for me.

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"If this sounds simple, it's because it is simple, at least in theory. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult because it requires levels of discipline and persistence that few teams can muster."  This quote resonated with me the most from Part Four of the book. "Levels of discipline and persistence" is where I believe the rubber meets the road. Holding a consistent line of discipline, and persisting through the hard times, is very challenging when it involves hard/truthful conversations with people we care about.  "Achieving vulnerability-based trust is difficult because in the course of career advancement and education, most successful people learn to be competitive with their peers, and protective of their reputations. It is a challenge for them to turn those instincts off for the good of a team, but that is exactly what is required." -- There is not an emoji available on Padlet for a "mic drop," but if there were, that is how I would describe this quote. We cannot compete against each other, we have to have a common goal and a commitment to achieve that goal together. I believe our team has to start with Trust. While it has improved, we can only solidify our togetherness in order to lead the corporeffectively if we truly trust each other.

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The quote that stood out the most to me from Part 4, came from page 189, "And so, like a chain with just one link broken, teamwork deteriorates if even a single dysfunction is allowed to flourish." As a team, I think we are on the right path and getting stronger. I hope to become less quiet and reserved as my trust begins to build. Short and sweet.... :)